Disclosed herein are fibers with optically uniform coatings, methods of making, and methods of inspecting fibers.
Fiber Bragg grating (FBG) arrays are seeing increased interest for a variety of applications. FBGs can be fabricated in a polymer coated fiber by laser inscription of the FBG into the glass optical core of the fiber. Physical defects in the polymer coatings degrade the optical quality of gratings written in the fiber. Physical defects also prevent transmission of light over large distances because they contribute to light scattering Improvements are needed in providing optically uniform fibers with no physical defects over a continuous length.